1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to chair-stabilization devices and more particularly to devices (especially removable and portable devices) that stabilize adult-sized and other chairs for children to prevent the chair and the child from falling when leaning backwards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Small children unaccustomed to the world have a tendency to take risks that reflect their ignorance of the risks involved. Especially after mastering certain basic motor tasks, some children may be very adventurous in exploring the world and subject themselves to risk and possible injury. One such risk is the risk of injury that occurs from a toppling chair. A child may be unaware that the chair is unstable when the center of mass goes outside its usually stable position. Unaware that his or her weight (the masculine pronoun is used herein for convenience only), the child may stand on the chair and lean over its back or otherwise redistribute the weight of the child-chair system such that the chair becomes subject to possible toppling and/or tip over.
For example, a child transitioning between a booster seat and a regular adult chair may accidentally fall backwards. The chair may slam to the floor and the back or other part of the child's head may also hit the floor. There is a risk of serious injury and parents may feel desperately helpless. Children may also fall back while trying to situate themselves on adult-sized chairs.
Due to the inherently precious nature of children to their parents, as well as the concern individuals have of the safety of one another, there is a strong motivation to provide a safe environment for children as from the risks from wall sockets, table corners, and the like. This also includes the risks arising from chairs that could possibly topple when the child uses them or clambers upon them in a foreseeable and/or an unforeseeable, unanticipated, unintended, or unusual way.
Prior attempts have been made in the art with respect to stabilizing chairs, protecting individuals (especially children) from toppling their chairs, and otherwise. Brief descriptions of some of such prior attempts are set forth below. While the descriptions are believed to be accurate, no admission is made by them regarding their subject matter which is solely defined by the patent or reference involved.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,928 to Marion, a portable baby chair is suspended from the edge of an ordinary table. A spring-biased set of pivoted locking bars on the chair's undertable supports engage the underside of the tabletop and prevent the chair from slipping. The table is trapped between table tangent sections 44/46 and the abutting sections 24/26 to generally hold the chair in place on the side of the table. Locking bars 54/56 serve to further secure the chair in place. Once the chair is in place, pushing the chair away from the table causes the tops of the locking bars to dig into the undersurface of the table and to hold the chair stationary.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,437 to Hill, the table 21 has a tabletop 14 and an undersurface 15. See C-shaped channel 16 mounted to the undersurface by means of screws generally perpendicular to an inward from the edge at about the place where the chairs 22 are to be positioned. This system generally requires permanent changes to the chairs and/or table in contrast to your system.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,082,035 to Goolsby, the substantially rigid hook serves to hold a highchair in place. Once engaged with the underside of a table, the hook 12 is restrained by a spring 55 and limits the travel of the highchair 19. Bracket 33 engages the hook via the pin 27 and allows pivoting of the hook.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,617 to Bruderer et al, a baby chair is mounted on a table that requires permanent attachment of certain items to the underside of the table to enable the chair to fold into a collapsed position and enable movement of the chair underneath the table. The chair is generally help in place by channel members 29 that slide into the channel tracks 25 by means of support rollers 27. The chair shown in the Bruderer et al. system is not freestanding as it derives support from the underside of the table and would generally be inconvenient to use.